Still Likeness
by skitty-chi
Summary: Lance struggles to balance school, a part-time job, and an internship with world-renown photographer Takashi Shirogane. Impulse has always been Lance's greatest weakness, but as impulse alone threatens his future, is it enough to shape it for the better? With camera in hand, his eye for the world brings him one step closer to achieving all he wanted and more.
1. Chapter 1

**_Hey! This is a new fandom for me, so I hope I can get right into the rhythm of writing this!_**

…

 _Shit, shit, shit!_ Lance thought as he rushed down the street, his backpack bouncing with every step he took.

Cars passed him on the busy street, the drowning noise of the busy city created an intense soundtrack for Lance's racing mind.

He was late, and Shiro was going to have his head for it.

He had left on time, he really had, but, without thinking ahead, he left with very little time to spare, and as he was sitting in traffic within a rancid taxi, every second that ticked on was like a pounding shot of adrenaline.

The vehicle had been stalled in the same place for the past five minutes when Lance had reached into his pocket and thrown a twenty at the driver before shoving the car door open, hoping that he wasn't going to hit any vehicle beside him, and jumped out, shouting something along the line of, "keep the change!"

So here he was, rushing to make it to his internship on time, running into people who shouted and groaned as he forcefully made his way through the over-sized crowd.

His camera loosely thrown into his backpack knocked with his school work, each major jump that sent his backpack flying and slamming down onto his spine made his heart skip a beat. He had spent the last of his money to finally by a new camera, one that didn't involve a wrist strap, but one that professionals used. He may had been a simple intern for a photographer, but he wasn't going to show up looking like an amateur, even if that is what he was.

Lance was out of breath as he made it to the hotel where Shiro had set up the photo-shoot.

As he entered, he straightened his back and took a deep breath, hoping that it wouldn't seem like he had run the entire way there from the upper east side, but his reddened face gave it away anyways.

When he managed to find the ballroom where he was meant to be five minutes ago at the least, Shiro had already set up the lighting and backdrop. He had his camera raised to his face as he scrolled through tester photos.

"Look who finally made it," he said, not breaking eye contact with the screen.

"I'm sorry," Lance muttered, sarcastic replied scrolling around in his mind, just waiting to jump out. "But you see-"

As Lance tried to defend himself, Shiro sighed and looked up and over his shoulder.

"Lance, I don't want to here your excuses, no matter how well thought out they are. Just be happy that Matt was here and set everything up." Shiro gestured with his chin to where a young man with wide-set glasses stood, intensely typing at a tablet.

"Sorry," Lance muttered again, but this time in defeat. He slung his backpack over his should, carefully setting it down by a small desk with camera equipment.

"Oh, you're finally here," spoke a gentle voice with a calming accent.

When Lance looked up, he was greeted by the overwhelming natural beauty of supermodel Allura. Her soft hazel skin was flawless, her wavy silver hair - which she claimed was natural, but Lance wasn't falling for it – cascading smoothly over her shoulder, and she sported a flowing silk dress, pearl in colour. There was a reason she was a model, and Lance couldn't have been happier to intern for the privet-hire photographer Shiro whom was her main photographer.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Lance spoke as he rolled his eyes, heading over to the lighting to adjust it when Shiro simple pointed to it and twirled his finger.

They had gotten to the point in their relationship where Shiro didn't even need words to get after him, and he was proud of that!

"I thought you weren't going to show," Matt spoke up, a sly smile playing on his face, "but Allura had faith. Guess it still is never good to go against her in a bet."

"Ha ha, very funny, Holt."

"Lance," Allura spoke with a musical hint in her voice, smiling, "I always have faith in you."

"At least on person does," Lance shot out, darting his head around to face Matt, who still snickered behind his tablet.

"Lance," Shiro sighed again, bringing his camera away from his face.

"What?!"

"You fixed it?"

"Huh?" Lance stuttered, snapping back when he remembered what he was doing.

 _Fix the light_ , he thought.

"Oh, yeah, it's moved upwards."

"Good," Shiro said, moving his attention back to the stunning beauty that was getting back into place for one more round of testing. "We should be starting in just a minute," he informed her.

"Alright," she breathed, "take your time, I don't have anywhere to be."

"Yeah, but I think Lance does," Matt mocked him.

"Matt," Shiro now scolded the young man, which sent a wave of relief rushing over Lance as the male went red from ear to neck. With swift movements, Shiro snapped three photos and examined them. Upon being happy with the settings, he smiled and his eyes went narrow as he instructed Allura on what he want.

That's how shoots went. When Matt was there, him and Lance would friendly bicker back and forth until the work started. Shiro would roll his eyes until the camera went up to his face, and from that moment forward, nothing but silence and the sound of camera's shutter followed.

The shoot continued for roughly an hour, only stopping for ten minutes for a water break and to change the direction.

Lance had become antsy, as he normally did when the shoots were nearing the end. He loved watching Shiro do his thing, the way his eyebrow twitched when he got an angle he liked, the way his lip would curl when he got into deep thought, sometimes staring endlessly at the camera screen. Even his nose would twitch, sending wrinkles through his scar that rested perfectly crossed the bridge of his nose.

At the break, Lance subtly went to his backpack and opened it up, fetching his camera, and heading back to his spot. He turned it on, occasionally looking up to see if Shiro was ready to start.

He loved looking through it. He saw the world come alive with colour when he did. He felt powerful. With his camera, he could force people to look at what he wanted, to make them see the world through his eyes.

"Hey, Matt," Lance called out, looking over his shoulder after a few seconds.

"Yeah?" came from the man.

"Where's Pidge?" he asked, bringing his camera to his side.

"Oh, they had a lot of homework, so they sent me instead. Why?"

"Just wondering," Lance spoke, but his words got lost half way out of his mouth.

Matt thought for a moment before shaking his head and continuing back to his previous work.

"Alright," Shiro called out, signalling everyone to get ready.

Hotel staff continued to run around when Shiro told them, constantly making sure everything was running smoothly.

As Shiro worked, Lance couldn't help but feel the weight of his camera pull down on him. He could feel it, like it was dragging him, screaming at him to raise it, to take his own photos. But he knew he wasn't allowed. Shiro would throw him out of the shoot and out of his internship faster than he could say, "lights, camera, action!"

But even as the time droned, even as every click of the camera echoed around the room like gun shots, he still was strikingly aware of the cameras presence in his hand. And like his arm was on auto pilot, even as everything inside of him screamed to put the camera down, he continued to. He brought it up to his eye and looked through the sight. His heart rate was all he could feel, the high pitch ringing of absence noise pierced his ears, his calm breath steadied his hand. And from where he was standing, he found his focus and clicked the button, knowing that there was no going back then.

The light flashed, the image was captured, and all he could do was drown in those three seconds of silence that followed.

"Lance," was all Shiro spoke as he slowly brought his camera down from his eyes and to the young male to his right.

Lance knew he was done for. He brought his camera down and its weight was back, but this time burning his sweaty palms.

"Yes?" Lance asked, his tongue getting dry and his throat feeling like it was about to close.

"What are you doing?" Shiro asked, voice monotone and deadly.

Lance knew he was about to either word vomit or actual vomit, and at that moment, he thought both, but just waited to see in which order.

"I - I just thought that maybe I could get a good angle from this side, and I had my camera, and it just sort of happened, and I didn't mean it, I swear, I - I"

Word vomit.

"Lance," Shiro's voice pierced through the room. "Go put your camera away and pack up."

The way the words were delivered, Lance knew he was done. With his head refusing to fall, neck stiff from shame, he slowly walked over to his backpack and shoved his camera in it. He could feel hot tears pooling in the back of his eyes, head pounding with pressure.

He stood off to the side, silently, while Shiro finished. Matt wold occasionally look over into his direction, jaw clenched, but would turn away when Lance would glare over.

He had fucked up. The greatest thing to ever happen to him and he had fucked it up because he couldn't control his damn urge.

The photo shoot was finished in silence as both Allura and Matt tried to cut the thick atmosphere with a knife, but failing, struggling to trudge their way through the mud-like substance that hung around them.

"Well," Allure spoke up, trying to lighten the mood, "that was a lot of fun! I can't wait till next time. Bye Lance, bye Shiro; thank you again for doing this."

Shiro smiled, but it was forced.

"Anytime Allura," he replied, waving her farewell.

As she exited, she turned back right before to give a concerned glance at Lance. He nodded, but not confidently.

"Shiro," Lance found his voice, hoping it didn't break on him.

"Do not take photos while I am. If you do that one more time, I am dropping you, got it?" Shiro said, voice hard.

Lance couldn't believe his ears. Was he hearing this right? Was Shiro _actually_ giving him another chance?!

The lump in his throat that he had thought had gone away was back, but this time it was for a positive reason.

"I - umm, I," Lance tried to thank him, but his voice had failed him.

"Now," Shiro sighed, his voice turning softer, "next Saturday we have another shoot, and you better be on time. I'll email you the location and time. If you're late, you're out, got it?"

Lance nodded. He nodded faster than he had ever nodded before. His neck was screaming at him, still being stiff, but he didn't care, he wasn't let go!

...

"I thought I was going to die!" Lance exclaimed, falling back-first onto his bed.

His roommate rolled his eyes, shaking his head as he turned back to his work.

"Seriously, he had fire in his eyes - death, even! And it was aimed at me!"

"Then you shouldn't have done it," Hunk, his roommate said tiredly.

"But Hunk, I had no control over it! My camera just came up to my eye and clicked all by itself!"

"Is that what you told him?" Hunk asked sarcastically.

Lance sat up on arm, leaning over with a pout plastered on his face.

"No!" Lance dragged out, moving his head to emphasis his point. "I don't even remember what I told him, it was just this big blur!"

As Hunk tried to drown out his annoying roommate and focus on his Organic Chemistry notes, Lance reached over and pulled his camera out of his bag.

"But I got an amazing shot, though!"

Hunk sighed as he gave up and closed his textbook, turning to face Lance. He pushed a bunch of buttons before flipping the camera over to show his friend the image.

Hunk's eyebrows went into his hair, mouth hanging slightly open as he reached forward to take the camera into his own hands.

The image held Allura, her hand up towards her head, eyes attacking the direction Shiro's camera was. The angle outlined her face, giving her an angelic glow, strands of hair flying around her head, giving her the allusion of a halo. She was breathtaking/

"Wow," he said slowly, taking in the image, "you are right, this is an amazing shot. And I never thought I would agree with you on being right – ever!"

Lance smiled smugly as he rested his chin on his hand.

"I know right."

"Like, everyone knows that Allura is breathtaking, but this... this is something else!"

"Oh yeah, it was worth risking my life for-"

 _Buzz Buzz!_

Lance turned his attention from Hunk to his phone for a quick moment. He quickly unlocked it and checked his emails. Lance realized that he had already been sent the details for Saturday's photo shoot.

As he skimmed the details, his back immediately straightened. Lance sat up with such force that Hunk pulled his attention away from Lance's camera to glance at him in confusion.

"What?"

"Shiro sent me the details for next Saturday's shoot," Lance responded back without missing a beat.

"And...?"

Instead of explaining, Lance whipped his phone around and showed Hunk the message. As he skimmed over it, he looked up at Lance, perplexed.

"Keith Kogane? Isn't he... that guy?"

"Yes, Hunk, he is that guy," Lance said, unamused.

"I'm sorry, I'm not that into pop culture," Hunk defended himself. "Isn't he, like, in a band, or something?"

"Yes, Hunk!" Lance exclaimed, slightly frightening Hunk in the process. "Shiro is his personal photographer, he doesn't let anyone else work with him besides Shiro! This is big, man! I love everything he has put out, like, seriously! I don't think I could be any bigger of a fan!"

"Well, calm down, I don't think you want to scare him away the first time you meet your idol."

"Hunk!" Lance stood up on his bed, his alien pajama pants riding up his leg before falling in place, the bed frame creaking. "I get to work with Keith-freaking-Kogane! Dude, there is no way I'm going to be calm about this!"

Hunk sighed, shaking his head at his friend.

"Well, message Pidge and see if they want to talk about it because I have a test in the morning, and unlike other people, I'm actually taking courses that matter."

Lance rolled his eyes, letting his feet give out under him and falling cross legged onto the mattress. With a huff, Lance flung a pillow at Hunk.

"Hey! Dude?!"

 ** _..._**

 ** _And that's it for the first chapter! God, I really hope that you guys enjoyed it! It would mean the world to me if you let me know your thoughts and feelings on this story so I know how to adjust it so its the best it can be! A lil slow rolling at first, but that just means its going to be amazing! (I hope... lol)_**

 ** _Review, follow, favourite, you know the drill!_**

 ** _Kitty out!_**

 ** _..._**

 ** _Next time on Still Likeness:_**

 ** _..._**

As Lance reached where Keith was standing, he took in a deep breath and said, "Hello, name's Lance and I will-"

"Where's Shiro?"

"What?" Lance asked, caught off guard at the sudden question.

"Where is Shiro?" Keith said again, this time slower and more annoyed. "He said he would be here, and I am not doing this if he sent this poor excuse of a photographer in his place."


	2. Chapter 2

_**chapter 2! There might not be many of you, but there's no way I'm giving up on this story!**_

…..

Lance checked the time. It still read the same it had five seconds ago when he had checked it for the twentieth time since he arrived the location of the shoot.

"That little," Lance muttered, his eye brow twitching. "If Shiro is running late on purpose, I'm gonna..." Lance tried to scream, but he was attracting too much attention.

With a huff, he pulled his phone out one last time and turned it on. Just as he was about to start typing a strongly worded passive-aggressive message, his phone starts ringing.

 ** _Shiro_**

"Damn right he better be calling," Lance muttered as he answered and put the phone to his ear. "Hello."

" _Hey, Lance, I'm sorry, but I'm currently running late."_

Lance huffed. "I can see that. Weren't you the one telling _me_ not to be late?" Lance asked, feeling a sort of pride building up inside of him.

A heavy sigh came from the other end of the call.

" _Lance,"_ Shiro spoke flatly, obviously annoyed at Lance's antics.

"I know, I know, but how could I not?"

" _Anyways,"_ Shiro stated, trying to get to his point, " _I need you to go in and set up. Keith will be there any minute and I don't want to upset him. Pidge is on their way, so just continue on setting up without me and I should be there as soon as I can."_

"Alright," Lance agreed, looking up at the building, the stone pillars sending chills down his spine, intimidating him, "just, hurry up, okay?"

" _I will, Lance, just hold up while I'm not. Goodbye, Lance,"_ Shiro said, almost sounding like he was going to hang up before getting in one last thought. " _Just, don't mess this up_."

Lance pulled the phone away from his ear gingerly, seeing that Shiro had hung up on him. With a shake of his head and a deep breath passing through him, he headed inside, stuffing his phone into his pocket.

"Why would he think I'm going to mess this up?" Lance grumbled, still mouthing aggressive comments under his breath as he pulled on the sleeves of his jacket.

When he stepped inside, he almost felt out of place the exact moment his foot hit the polished marble floor. The way the floor was laid out, his footsteps sounded amplified, echoing throughout.

"I should not be here," Lance mumbled as he became strikingly aware of everything about him. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, the cool breeze passing over his reddened ears, the way his jacket and jeans hung off of him. This place was too fancy for him, and he knew that he stood out.

But Lance shook his head, keeping his back straight as he made his way to where he was supposed to set up. On his way, he hauled out his phone and started typing.

 ** _Hunky Poo_**

 ** _"Dude, this place is so weird! And guess what?! Shiro is freaking late! He was mad at me for being late and oh how the tables have turned!"_**

 ** _10:48_**

 ** _Sent_**

Lance held on to his phone at his side as he pushed through the last set of doors before reaching the hall where the shoot would be.

When he entered, there were already people unpacking equipment that worked there. Lance scanned the area, trying to spot someone - anyone that he knew. After failing at his find, he quickly made his way over to the lighting equipment and started to place them around the backdrop which had been place, but not set up.

"Hey," Lance called out to a guy in a jumpsuit that worked in the building, "know how to set that up?"

The man looked over to the backdrop and nodded his head.

"Great, can you start on that and I'll finish it up," Lance told him, untangling wires.

His phone buzzed from where it was now in his pocket, and Lance pulled it out.

 ** _Hunky Poo_**

 ** _"Really? That's crazy! Is your 'Idol' there yet? Pidge?"_**

 ** _10:51_**

 ** _Received_**

 ** _..._**

 ** _Hunky Poo_**

 ** _"No! :( But give it some time, he needs to get pretty! And I don't know where that piece of shit is yet. They should be here soon tho"_**

 ** _10:52_**

 ** _Sent_**

Lance sighed as he shoved his phone back into his pocket. He went through he motions fluidly for setting up the equipment, his body having memorized the motions for doing it so much in the past.

"Where's 'Team Mom'?" came from a voice, slightly squeaky, but stern.

"Hey, Pidge. And Shiro said he was running late and wanted us to just get everything ready for when he shows up." Lance set the wired down as Pidge made their way over to him with coffee. "God, I love you, Pidge!"

"You only say that when I bring you stuff or do something you want me to," they said flatly, shaking their head as they handed it to him.

"And I mean every word of it!" Lance quickly downed a good portion of the hot liquid, enjoying it fully. "Fuck! Pidge, you always know what I want, don't you?"

"Putting up with your shit for this long, I better."

"Thank you."

"Yeah," Pidge said as they waved, walking over to the desk and setting their laptop down on it.

Lance hauled out his phone, setting his coffee down.

 ** _Hunky Poo_**

 ** _"They're here now AND THEY BROUGHT ME COFFEE! Is it wrong to want to marry Pidge?!"_**

 ** _10:55_**

 ** _Sent_**

 ** _..._**

 ** _Hunky Poo_**

 ** _"Well, might be kind of weird, Lance."_**

 ** _10:56_**

 ** _Received_**

 ** _..._**

 ** _Hunky Poo_**

 ** _"Whatever. If in ten years I'm still all by myself, I'm either marrying or adopting Pidge"_**

 ** _10:56_**

 ** _Sent_**

 ** _..._**

 ** _Hunky Poo_**

 ** _"I highly doubt that Pidge will let you marry them, even adopt them for that matter."_**

 ** _10:57_**

 ** _Received_**

 ** _..._**

 ** _Hunky Poo_**

 ** _"Heck, I highly doubt anyone will."_**

 ** _10:57_**

 ** _Received_**

 ** _..._**

 ** _Hunky Poo_**

 ** _"Thanks man."_**

 ** _10:57_**

 ** _Sent_**

 ** _..._**

 ** _Hunky Poo_**

 ** _"Feeling the love"_**

 ** _10:57_**

 ** _Sent_**

 ** _..._**

 ** _Hunky Poo_**

 ** _"And for your information "_**

 ** _10:58_**

 ** _Sent_**

 ** _..._**

 ** _Hunky Poo_**

 ** _"HOLY SHIT, HOLD THE FUCK UP"_**

 ** _10:58_**

 ** _Sent_**

 ** _..._**

 ** _Hunky Poo_**

 ** _"What?!"_**

 ** _10:58_**

 ** _Received_**

Lance quickly shoved his phone back into his pocket and grabbed his coffee, quickly rushing over to the table where Pidge was sitting, tapping away on their laptop.

Lance slammed the coffee down, eyes still fixed on the door.

"Pidge!" he whispered aggressively. "Fucking look!"

Pidge pushed their glasses up their nose before turning over their shoulder.

There, standing in the door way, was none other then Keith Kogane. As Lance stole glances at him, he couldn't help but feel his heart race and his palms getting sweaty. The man that stood at the door was holding a bottle of water in one hand, the other gripping his phone at his side, his hips popped slightly outwards. He wore a simple onyx button up shirt with the top button undone, his collar half flipped up.

His hair was in a loose ponytail, but Lance still couldn't get over the fact that it was a mullet, ponytail or not. Keith wore dress pants held up by a pair of ebony suspenders, outlining his body's natural curve.

Even from the distance, he was breath taking.

Pidge elbowed Lance.

"Ow! What was that for?!" Lance hollered lowly, snapping at them.

"You should probably play Shiro for a moment and go over there, you know," they pointed out.

"Oh, I guess, yeah."

Lance rubbed his palms on the side of his pants and took off his jacket, feeling suddenly hot.

"Keep it in your pants, will you?" Pidge spat, rolling their eyes as Lance made his way over.

 _You got this Lance,_ he told himself, _nothing can stop you! You're amazing and Keith is going to love you!_

As Lance reached where Keith was standing, he took in a deep breath and said, "Hello, name's Lance and I will-"

"Where's Shiro?"

"What?" Lance asked, caught off guard at the sudden question.

"Where is Shiro?" Keith said again, this time slower and more annoyed. "He said he would be here, and I am not doing this if he sent this poor excuse of a photographer in his place."

Lance stood there, shocked. He didn't know how to reply to the brash language of this man that stood in front of him, the man he idolized.

"I - um, Sh-Shiro will be here soon, he's just stuck in traffic right now. I'm his assistant, I'm filling in for the time being," Lance tried to explain, and tried not to hit the man upside the head.

"Well, I'm not starting until he gets here," Keith said stubbornly.

Lance simply smiled and turned on his heel, face going red with hot anger as he gritted his teeth and nodded.

As he stood there, something inside him had changed. The man he once idolized apparently turned out to be a huge dick. That would be his luck! The moment something goes well, it falls and crashes to the ground. But Lance was mature, and he needed to keep this internship, so he continued to play nice and finish setting everything up, praying that Shiro would walk through that door any second.

But when time ticked on and Lance couldn't pretend to adjust the lighting any longer, he sighed and stretched his back out. He gingerly headed over where to makeup girls were fussing over Keith's appearance and continued to send out silent prayers that Shiro would walk in and save his ass, but when he didn't, Lance put on a fake smile and waited for Keith to notice he was there.

"Is Shiro here yet?" was all he asked, still looking at his phone like he simply sensed Lance's aura as he came forward.

"Not yet," Lance started to explain, but was cut off by the model.

"Then what do you want?"

"All I need is for you to stand over there," he started as he pointed to the basic backdrop that had been set up, "so we can make sure the lighting is good."

"Do you even know what you're doing?" Keith asked, this time looking up from his phone to run his eyes over Lance in a judging manner.

With a deep breath in, Lance replied. "Yes, I do know what I am doing, and before you stop me, Shiro trained me himself. We are not starting until Shiro walks through those doors, but to make sure we can when he does, I just need to make sure the lighting isn't too bright for everything set up."

Keith gave him a moment, a single pause as he thought out his words in his mind. With the same bored expression he carried before, he rolled his eyes and started to walk over.

"What ever," he muttered, almost angrily at the thought that Lance was right.

With a small smile on his face he carried like a trophy for his win, Lance headed over to the small table he had set his camera down on. He knew Shiro didn't like him taking photos at his shoot, but he wasn't here yet and it was for lighting testing, so it was okay, right?

He walked over and double checked to make sure everything was in place. He scanned Shiro's words in his mind that he had engraved into Lance the first day he started working for him. And when everything checked out, he raised his camera to his eye, let out a smooth breath, and clicked the button, a flash and the shutter following.

Lance brought his camera away from his eye to check it. When he noticed that it was slightly too bright for the background, he adjusted everything and tried again, bringing the lens to his eye before snapping another photo.

When he brought it back to check, he smiled at himself for his achievement.

Just as he was about to tell Keith that he was no longer needed there, something deep down stopped him. Instead of doing the right thing, he brought the camera back up to his eye, closed the other, and captured a stolen photo. Lance's heart was racing, he felt like Shiro was going to be standing behind him, telling his that he was fired, but when he sent that way a quick glance, no one stood.

So, with guilty hands and a wicked smile, he continued to steal Keith's picture, each shot turning out better than the last. Keith was one his phone, his attention turned away. As he slowly got braver, he started to move around, side to side, trying to get better angles.

When Keith started to question him, Lance was quick on his toes.

"Do you really need to take this long for a lighting check?" Keith Kogane asked with a dry tone.

Lance waved his hand as he used the other to go back and forth at the photos he had taken. "I'm an amateur, so I'm not good as Shiro with this," he replied sarcastically, pretending to be sincere. When Keith bought it, Lance when right back to taking more.

He would pretend to fix the lighting, walking over to it, snapping a few shots, then heading back the other way to think of more. Keith's face loved the camera, whether it knew it was being captured or not. Even though he wanted to hate the model for being stuck-up and selfish, he couldn't help but be taken away by his natural beauty. To think that they were the same age and at two totally different stages in their career.

Just as Lance was zooming in on Keith's face, he managed to get the progression of Keith's face lighting up. He slowly went from his phone, to staring slightly behind where lance stood, to the door, to his smile appearing widely on his face. His eyes were bright and Lance was falling in love with the man through the lens, but it wasn't until Keith spoke did he get pulled from his fantasy.

"Shiro!" Keith called out, slipping his phone in his pocket and rushing over to the other man, leaving Lance alone with his camera and pictures.

"I'm so sorry I am late, traffic was awful. I think if I would have ran here it would have been faster," Shiro joked as he took his camera bag and jacket off, unloading what little he had with him.

"It's all good, I thought for a moment you had sent your intern to do the shoot instead of you, and I got nervous," Keith spoke as he laughed softly, arms crossed, yet not blocked off.

Shiro stopped for a moment and shook his head, smiling as he took out his camera, removing the lens cover and turning it on.

"Keith, you know I would never do that to you, I am the only one with the honor of taking your photo," Shiro spoke as he slowly made his way over to where Lance was, still going over the shots.

He was admiring one that he had taken just before Shiro had walked in when said man called out to him, removing him from his own world and crashing him down. Lance brought his camera to his chest, half out of fear of Shiro knowing what he had done and half out of just fear in general.

"Lance, what are you doing over there?" Shiro asked, snapping a photo and seeing how the light bounced back.

"Oh, I, uh..." Lance stuttered as he tried to find the right string of words to explain to Shiro why he had Keith in place and his camera out. "I was checking the lighting for you, getting the settings." Lance quickly turned the photo to the first one he took, the one that was too bright, and showed it to the older man. "See? So, instead of adjusting the flash, I simply moved and changed the lighting around the basic settings because we didn't have the camera we were going to use for the shoot here when we were setting up." He changed the photo to the next one, showing Shiro the fixing in the lighting.

"Well done, Lance," Shiro spoke after a moment of examining the photo up close. He paused for a moment, glancing over at Keith then taking a small step towards Lance. "I'm surprised that you even got him for the lighting test."

"Well," Lance started, taking his camera back and turning it off for the time being, "I just catered to his ego."

Shiro had to hide the sudden burst of laughter that shot through him behind his hand, turning away for a quick moment.

"Well, Lance," he started, shaking his head as he tried to collect himself, "Nice going."

"Thanks," Lance replied with a smile, feeling a sense of pride wash over him as he stepped to the side.

His phone buzzed in his pocket as he headed towards where Pidge was working, typing away on their computer.

"Hey, Pidge," Lance called out, camera still in one hand.

"Yeah?" they replied, eyes still on the computer screen.

"Can you do me a favour?"

"Is it about those photos you obviously took behind Shiro's back?"

Lance huffed and made noises as he tried to say no, but when Pidge turned over their shoulder and raised a brow, Lance sighed.

"Technically he said that I can't take photos _while_ _he's_ taking photos, and technically I was doing lighting tests," Lance tried to justify his reasoning while Pidge wasn't even really paying attention. "Can you just take the photos I got and do your thing?"

"You want me to aid in your illegal activities?"

"They are not illegal," Lance replied with a roll of his eyes.

"What ever," Pidge sighed as they stuck out their hand. "Place the SD card in my hand and I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you so much!" Lance exclaimed, his face lighting up. He removed the card from his camera and placed it in the palm of Pidge's hand. "Keith might be an ass, but damn does he have a nice face... and butt - wow, just looking at him makes me feel insecure."

"You should feel insecure," Pidge said as an off comment.

"Screw off, Pidge."

"What ever. I should have these done and emailed to you by tomorrow," they explained, typing away at their computer.

After he was done with Pidge, Lance set his camera down on the desk beside him and hauled out his phone.

 ** _Hunky Poo_**

Lance quickly unlocked his phone to see what his roommate had texted him.

 ** _Hunky Poo_**

 ** _"Lance? You okay? What happened? Lance, you can't leave me in the dark!"_**

 ** _11:42_**

 ** _Received_**

 ** _..._**

 ** _Hunky Poo_**

 ** _"Sorry man, just got carried away! Keith walked in and I had to deal with his MAJOR attitude. Ill explain when I get home, I am WIPED!"_**

 ** _11:44_**

 ** _Sent_**

 ** _..._**

 ** _Hunky Poo_**

 ** _"Oh no! Is Kogane not everything you dreamed about and more?!"_**

 ** _11:45_**

 ** _Received_**

 ** _..._**

 ** _Hunky Poo_**

 ** _"Not even close, Ill go into more detail at home, now I have to jump back or Shiro is going to spank me for not paying attention to Mr Perfect"_**

 ** _11:45_**

 ** _Sent_**

 ** _..._**

 ** _Hunky Poo_**

 ** _"Alright, I guess I'll wait! But you owe me! Oh, BTW , my mom stopped by and dropped of lasagna for us so we be having it for supper!"_**

 ** _11:45_**

 ** _Received_**

 ** _..._**

 ** _Hunky Poo_**

 ** _"Tell mama Hunk I love her!"_**

 ** _11:46_**

 ** _Sent_**

 ** _..._**

 ** _Hunky Poo_**

 ** _"Already done!"_**

 ** _11:46_**

 ** _Received_**

 ** _..._**

 ** _Hunky Poo_**

 ** _"Actual angel too good for this world!"_**

 ** _11:46_**

 ** _Sent_**

 ** _..._**

 ** _Hunky Poo_**

 ** _"Now, get back to work or no supper for you."_**

 ** _11:47_**

 ** _Received_**

Lance put his phone away and felt a rush of adrenaline coursing through him. He didn't know why, but he knew something was going to change. And what ever it was, he was ready for it.

...

"Seriously?!" Hunk exclaimed, a fork hanging out of his mouth.

"Yeah, I know, right?!" Lance replied with the same about of force. "He acted like he had a stick up his ass, but damn did he look good!"

"Did Shiro catch you?"

"No way!" Lance explained. "I wouldn't be here alive if Shiro knew I took those photos!"

Hunk sighed and stuck his fork back into the cheesy mound on his plate, shaking his head as he leaned back.

"That's crazy."

"I know! And because he only works with Shiro, I'm going to have to work with him again soon," Lance told his roommate with a sigh, resting the beck of his head on his wall as he sat on his bed.

"Do you know what the next job will be?" Hunk asked, taking a swig of his orange juice.

Lance shook his head.

"No idea. I heard that maybe Keith will be doing a privet shoot, but Shiro hasn't said anything about that to me personally yet, and I don't even know what a 'privet shoot' would entail. And I don't even know if I'm allowed to privet shoots in the first place, hence them being privet!"

Both boys were silent as they thought and ate, the outside noise drowning everything out.

"Yeah," Hunk said with an airy tone.

"Yeah," Lance replied the exact same way.

Both continued to eat in silence, trying to figure out what tomorrow would bring.

...

 _ **And another one down! I'm really enjoying this story, and things are just starting! Mainly setting everything up so it can go down in one fowl swoop!**_

 _ **Tell your family, your friends, that stranger down the street that strangely smells like ketchup about this story!**_

 _ **Let me know your thoughts and feelings so I know where to go that will best suit you!**_

 _ **Review, follow, favourite!**_

 _ **Kitty out!**_

 _ **...**_

 _ **Next on Still Likeness:**_

 _ **...**_

"I think you should submit them," Pidge spoke out after a great deal of silence.

"Are you crazy? He'll fire me if he knows I have these!" Lance exclaimed, standing from his chair with such haste.

"You can't be fired if he never hired you."

"Shut up! It's the same thing!"

"But think about it. I'll leave these with you and you can decide what you want to do," Pidge said as they transferred the photos onto his USB stick.


	3. Chapter 3

**_ai! next chapter!_**

 ** _DISCLAIMER: don't own the characters, just the story_**

 ** _..._**

Tomorrow. Pidge had said tomorrow, so that would be today, right?

Lance tapped at the side of his desk with his spare finger, staring emptily at his phone as it rested on the table in front of him, plugged in, waiting for it to vibrate signalling an email.

When his phone vibrated only a single time, his lidded eyes shot open and the arm that as keeping his head up slammed down and it the table with a loud _boom!_ With one deep breath, he picked his phone up and quickly went to his emails.

A small breath of air left him as he once again was pulled down to earth. His eyes fell back to their half-lidded state as he clicked on the email from Hot Topic, telling him about a sale that was currently happening in stores.

Lance scrolled through the email to occupy his time as he erratically started to tap his foot and shake his leg. After deleting the email in one swoop of his finger, he set his phone down beside him and rested his head on his desk.

Hunk had long since left their shared dorm and headed out on what he called a "not-date," but Lance wasn't fooled by it. He had brushed his hair four times more than he needed to, asked Lance for his cologne, and then proceeded to spill it all over his shoes all within a span of ten minutes.

Lance had raised a brow and smiled at his friend before telling him now to do anything he would do or wouldn't do, confusing the poor guy as Lance pushed him out the door with one more, "don't stay out too late, and make good choices!", closing the door and rushed over to his desk where he had told himself he was going to get his work done.

But here we are, and we know better than Lance, for we know that that did not happen. So, as he rested his head on the table, one more set of vibration rose his head only mere seconds after it had been set down pulled his attention from his idol thoughts and back to his phone.

 _Two vibrations,_ he thought, _just a text._

He picked it up and stretched his back out, slouching as he pressed the home button. Shocked when he saw Pidge's name pop up, he quickly – and confusingly – opened the message and scanned the words, ignoring the one that came directly after.

 ** _Pidgeon_**

 ** _"r u home?"_**

 ** _10:58_**

 ** _Received_**

 ** _….._**

 ** _Pidgeon_**

 ** _"Ah who cares Im coming in"_**

 ** _10:59_**

 ** _Received_**

 ** _…._**

By the time he read the last messaged sent, there was a banging at his door. Lance got up to open the door, but Pidge had gone ahead and let themselves in.

"Whaddup, loser?" they called as the closed the door behind them. They had their laptop bag slung over their shoulder and hair everywhere.

"Did you even sleep last night?" Lance asked as Pidge walked passed him to his desk, unloading their laptop and setting everything up.

"Nah, not really," Pidge shrugged, logging into their laptop with a password at least twenty characters long. "I started last night, but I lost track of time. I was gonna send them, but our Wi-Fi crashed last night while I was messing in Photoshop. I blame Matt."

"What was he doing?" Lance asked as he pulled Hunk's chair from his side of the room over so he could look over Pidge's shoulder.

"I dunno, think he was playing some MMO. It's Matt, he could have been too deep on NASA's page and got flagged, who knows."

"I wouldn't be surprised," Lance muttered, a small smile tugging at the corners of his upper lip.

"Anyways," Pidge started, pulling up files and documents, "I went ahead and started messing around with different effects and filters somewhere around three last night, but I managed to get most of them in usable condition." Pidge stopped as they turned their head to face Lance with something akin to a proud smile. "Not gonna lie, these are not like your other shots, these actually don't suck. I didn't have to do too much work to them to get them to how I pictured you originally saw them."

As Pidge rolled the chair off to the side to let Lance scroll through their work, they sat with their arms crossed and a smug look on their face.

Lance was in awe. Just yesterday he was face to face with one of his favourite models, only to have him be a complete ass. But staring at these shots, it was like he was looking at a completely different person.

Pidge had done what Pidge does best and took some creative liberty with the photos. Some were in black and white, some had softer lighting then the rest, but not a single one of them did he not like.

"These are amazing," Lance mumbled as he finished scrolling, taking a sticky note out and writing down the name of his favourites.

"And want to see the funniest part – at least to me?" Pidge asked as Lance moved over and Pidge brought up a different folder, one that simple said: **_Shiro_**.

As Pidge scrolled through the photos, Lance was taken back by the sheer beauty of them. This was one of the reasons Shiro was his favourite photographer. He had grown up looking at his work. He was the reason Lance wanted to take up photography – hell, he was the reason Lance first wanted to pick up a camera.

Some people admire actors or singers, but to Lance, Shiro was much more than that. So, when Lance had applied to the mentorship/internship as Shiro's assistant, he never thought in a million years that he would get it.

Out of the hundreds, almost thousands, of applications that were sent in along with a single sample photo, what caught Shiro's eye in Lance's photo was how he managed to make blue stand out within a sea of different shades of.

It wasn't necessary his favourite submission, but it was a photo that he would lie awake mentally analyzing the technique every now and again. And while Shiro was – and still is – hard on Lance, he has no regret giving it to him, knowing that he has an eye for things most people can't figure out.

But as Lance scrolled through the raw images of Keith's photoshoot from the day before, it's like he was a ten-year-old boy once more looking through that simple issue of National Geographic where Shiro's picture took the over.

"These are breath taking," Lance said from Hunk's chair, eyes wide and full of emotion.

"True, but I'm not gonna lie, these aren't his best."

Lance turned to face Pidge, brows furrowed together as he thought about what they meant.

"What?"

"Yeah," Pidge spoke as they turned back to the computer, clicking on a file and pulling it up, zooming in and out randomly out of boredom. "I actually prefer yours. I don't know if it was Keith or Shiro, but something feels off about these."

"Are you going to tell him?" Lance asked, leaning back in the chair facing Pidge as they swerved in the chair to face him.

"I feel like I should, you know? He has a reputation to uphold and I don't feel like these are good enough."

The two of them sat in silence as the sound of collage life came from the unsealed window placed unevenly between the two beds. Pidge was right. If the photos weren't good enough for them, then they shouldn't be submitted. But Lance saw nothing wrong with them. Again, he was partial to Shiro and his work, anything he did, Lance would love.

"I don't know, have you talked to Matt about this?" Lance spoke out, trying to think of alternative ways.

"He's busy with the final spread of Allura's shoot." Pidge turned back to face the computer, scrolling through the folder once again, looking at the shots they thought would be the best. "I have a few I feel could be doable once I work my magic, but honestly, your shots from this is much better, if that's even possible."

"I do work miracles sometimes," Lance added, smirking softly as he thought truly about what Pidge had said. Did they really think his work was better in this case?

"I think you should submit them," Pidge spoke out after a great deal of silence.

"Are you crazy? He'll fire me if he knows I have these!" Lance exclaimed, standing from his chair with such haste.

"You can't be fired if he never hired you."

"Shut up! It's the same thing!"

"But think about it. I'll leave these with you and you can decide what you want to do," Pidge said as they transferred the photos onto his USB stick.

As Pidge packed up their things to head out, Lance couldn't help but stare at the USB that sat just off to the side of the table. Pidge had said goodbye and left the dorm before he broke his sight away from it.

Here it was. Photos that could make or break him. Was he going to tell Shiro what Pidge had said and reveal his own secret, or was he going to let Pidge give it the best they could and hope to god one worked.

In frustration, Lance flopped on his bed and covered his face, huffing loudly. He even stayed their when his phone buzzed.

…..

 ** _Shiro_**

 ** _"Hey Lance, I have some work I want you to do, are you busy later today?"_**

 ** _11:21_**

 ** _Received_**

It was just after twelve when Lance finally grabbed his phone. He had seen the message from Shiro and sighed. He was tired, he had more homework than he could do in one day, but he could never say no to Shiro.

So, there he was, wearing a shirt he found on the floor with questionable age as he wrapped his jacket closer to his body with his nose feeling cold. The clouds were gray, the weather was indecisive, and the air smelt like thick muck.

"Shiro, what are we doing in the middle of nowhere in what looks like the burial grounds of at least four dead bodies?" Lance asked, holding his camera close.

"Well, I've been so bust lately that I haven't been able to properly 'mentor' you," Shiro explained, smiling softly as his tuff of white hair Lance always wondered if it was a fashion choice or natural blew into his line of sight. "I started out with nature shots, as do most photographers do, so it's about time you have your nature moment."

"Do I really need a nature moment if I already have you?"

Shiro laughed, his scar running along the bridge of his nose becoming prominent.

"Every photographer must learn the value of nature and its wonders before they can truly understand the true meaning of photography," Shiro explained.

"It sounds like you read that out a guide for How to Get on the Cover of National Geographic. Like, word for word of some random article written by someone who was alive when they first invented cameras," Lance muttered as he snapped a photo randomly to pretended to show interest in this "lesson." "Anyways, isn't that why you chose me? Because I already had an eye for this sort of things? Why do I have to prove it again with something so… so… basic?"

"Because no one truly good gets to the top by shortcutting." Shiro had stayed facing away from Lance, looking out on the landscape that surrounded them in all angles. "Even so, if you can do it, then prove it to me."

Lance took this like a challenge. He was ready to make Shiro eat his words. He was going to take the best damn shot of some weeds that the world had ever seen.

Lance ran out, camera in hand, and started searching for the next great thing. He had taken a photo of a wildflower surrounded by nothing but dead grass, a dandelion with half of the seeds missing, and a bird resting in a nest.

Lance had been at it for half an hour before he stopped for a moment to look through his camera at all the shots he had gotten.

"This'll show him! Thinking I don't got skill. I sure did shoot some amazing nature shots. Shiro thinking he can get me to-"

Lance stopped what he was doing and looking up from his camera and deadpanned. He walked back towards Shiro who had dropped the camera from his eye.

"Get any good shots?" he asked with a wide, knowing smile.

"I hate you," Lance muttered as he started to put his camera away.

"What do you mean?" Shiro asked innocently enough. He watched as Lance, in frustration, glared up at the older man and scowled.

"You know what you did."

"What did I do?"

"You tricked me into thinking I was in control, but, in actuality, you made me take nature photos," Lance explained out loud for no reason at all but to vent his built-up frustration. But Shiro's smile never broke the entire time.

"Where are you going?" Shiro asked, turning off his own camera and following Lance out of the open plains area.

"I'm heading to the car!" Lance exclaimed as he stomped off. "And you better believe those photos are the best damn nature photos you have ever seen!"

With a shake of his head, Shiro was too steps behind the younger male as he beamed in small bits of pride.

…..

"Now, I want you to email me your best three shots by tomorrow so I can see what you got done while we were out," Shiro told Lance as he dropped him off. Lance was already half out the door when he made a small humming noise to respond to Shiro's words. "Don't forget!" was the last thing Shiro said before Lance closed the door and headed towards his dorm.

He was tired and he wanted to lay down. He had school tomorrow, but he was wondering what would happen if he just dropped out right there and then.

Well, firstly, he would lose his position with Shiro, as it is only for students attending school. But then again, Shiro already likes him, so would he just let him go? But if it wasn't the thought of no longer being able to go to these shoots, it would be that his mother would straight up kill him and bury him back in that field.

"That's for another time," Lance thought to himself as he made his way to the front door of his dorm, taking out his keys for the front entrance.

Trudging his tired body up the stairs was hard enough, so when he opened the door, he fell face first on his bed, completely unaware that Hunk had returned and was at his own desk.

"Hey, bud, you good?" he asked, leaning on the back of his chair as he faced his roommate's bed.

"Oh, you're here," Lance mumbled into his pillow, almost unable to make out the words. He turned his head to face Hunk and looked at him with his tired eyes. "Hunk, can I drop out of school?"

"Oh no, what happened?" Hunk asked, voice now full of worry.

Lance sighed. "Nothing really. Just… Shiro made me take shots of nature today and I have so much homework that I'll be behind until I'm thirty and I just want to sleep."

"That's not… good," Hunk spoke slowly as he thought about what Lance as just said, not sure if his answer really worked. "Did you at least get some good shots?"

"I guess," he managed to say, raising his head to look up and out their window.

"No jumping today, Lance," Hunk joked as he got up and threw Lance a can of pop from his mini fridge.

"How did I get so lucky with a friend like you?" he told him in thanks as he cracked it open, downing half of it in one go.

"Blame Tony Gilcrest in fourth grade," Hunk replied with a small chuckle, opening his own can.

"To Tony, the actual spawn of Satan," Lance toasted, raising his can up as Hunk followed suit.

"To Tony," Hunk copied, the two of them taking a swig of their pop.

"Oh," Lance spoke up after he finished his pop, "Pidge came by to drop off the photos I gave them. They said that they actual prefer mine over Shiro's.

Hunk choked for a quick second before catching his breath.

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah, showed me some of Shiro's from that asshole Keith's photoshoot and said that mine were, in their opinion, better."

"That's… that's crazy, Lance," Hunk pointed out as he leaned forward. "Are you going to tell Shiro? Is Pidge going to tell Shiro?"

"If he found out that I took photos behind his back after he just told me not to do that, he would send my ass packing so fast I won't have time to grab my camera," Lance nonchalantly said, leaning back against the wall.

"So, what are you planning on even doing with them?" Hunk asked.

"Not too sure, I could hold them for backup, but what would that even do? It's not like Keith gets his photo done by anyone other than Shiro, so it's not like I can sell them to someone else, I would get found out right away."

Silence fell upon the pair once more as they thought about any use that those photos could bring.

"Well, for now," Hunk started, voice slow as he thought while he spoke, "you focus on your homework for tomorrow and take a moment off from Shiro and Keith."

"I guess…" Lance said with little energy. His mind was racing on all the things that was causing him stress, and thinking of all the homework he had due was not helping. " _Dios…"_

"What is it that you need done?" Hunk asked, a smile on his face to try and show Lance that he was there for him.

"Well, I have two essays on the French revolution due by Wednesday, one research paper on the breakdown of the human psyche and its effects to modern day medicine, a photo report-slash-collage for my photo journalism class, and that's just the stuff due this week."

Hunk simply sat and stared at Lance, unable to say anything to his friend.

"You're on your own," was all he managed to say in response after a solid thirty seconds of silence between the two of them.

"Oh, C'mon Hunk!" Lance pleaded, getting off his bed to fall to his knees to bag him.

After an internal debate, Hunk gave a hefty sigh and closed his eyes.

"Fine! But I'm only doing the French rev, you have to do the other ones on your own."

"You are literally the best human being in the world – no! – in the universe! Screw you aliens, Hunk is better than all of you!"

Hunk simply rolled his eyes in response.

….

Lance had polished the counter five times within the last hour, at this point he was attempting to create a whole new level of shine. Work was lagging and not many people had come in lately. He worked at a local coffee shop run by someone he swears deals drugs out of the back of his van, but, you know, also puts cute little flower designs on the labels of each substance.

Lance stared up at the tiny flat screen TV that was mounted on the wall and was debating on whether or not he was going to change the channel. There was a man seated by the window reading a book that looked like It had gone through the war, and judging on his age, it probably had, and a stressed student that took up an entire table with their books.

Just a regular day in a work day for Lance.

He was begging that some thing, _anything,_ would happen so he would have something to do. But of course, nothing happened. So, he stood there, bored out of his mind, mindlessly polishing the table yet again.

But from the depths of his pockets, his phone buzzed. He looked around to make sure his boss or anyone else was looking, but then he remembered no one here cared anyways, so he pulled it out anyways.

 ** _Shiro_**

 ** _"Hey Lance, I need you to do me a favor."_**

 ** _3:24_**

 ** _Received_**

 ** _…._**

 ** _Shiro_**

 ** _"Yeah waddup?"_**

 ** _3:25_**

 ** _Sent_**

 ** _….._**

 ** _Shiro_**

 ** _"I'm going to need you to pick up the photos from Pidge from Keith's photo shoot and send the selected ones to the publisher by tomorrow."_**

 ** _3:26_**

 ** _Received_**

 ** _…._**

 ** _Shiro_**

 ** _"On it"_**

 ** _3:26_**

 ** _Sent_**

 ** _….._**

 ** _Pigeon_**

 ** _"Camera daddy wants you to hit me up with those sweet photos from the shoot"_**

 ** _3:28_**

 ** _Sent_**

 ** _…._**

 ** _Pigeon_**

 ** _"Ill hit you upside the head with something if you say that one more time"_**

 ** _3:32_**

 ** _Received_**

 ** _….._**

 ** _Pigeon_**

 ** _"And ill send them your way check your email soon"_**

 ** _3:32_**

 ** _Received_**

 ** _….._**

 ** _Pigeon_**

 ** _"thank"_**

 ** _3:33_**

 ** _Sent_**

Lance set his phone back in his pocket and closed his eyes. He was ready to fall asleep right there. Only three more hours until he could go home.

...

 ** _camera daddy. i forgot that i wrote that... lol._**

 ** _anyway! im feeling a little better so hopefully i can get some more written soon! This story is so exciting, yall dont even know what i got planned. I did warn of a slow beginning but here we are,,,_**

 ** _between the last post and this, my friend and i actually started a photography "business" for cosplay so i giggle everytime i remeber this fic while we do a shoot._**

 ** _So, thank you all for sticking around, i hope to have more out soon! Tell you friends!_**

 ** _I also now have a tumblr so you should check it out!_**

 ** _icravestrawberrydeath_**

 ** _im pree cool there. also one of my posts went viral so theres that._**

 ** _favorite, follow, review please!_**

 ** _Kitty out!_**


	4. Chapter 4

_**I rise from the depth of my depression to finally get this chapter out! i should be getting more regular updates as I do have almost all of this planned quite literally chapter to chapter, so heres to hoping (watch me never update for two years cuz im awful)**_ ** _anyways, as i am now graduated, I should have more time so While im working on my book, I'll be keeping up with all my stories to hopefully keep my motivation running!_**

 ** _..._**

Lance had the file pulled up on his laptop, ready to press send, but something stopped him. Shiro has asked him to submit the photos for him, but now that his clicker loomed over the _send_ button, his finger itching closer to pressing down on the mouse, his thoughts raced.

He was simply told to take the best shots from Pidge that Shiro had snapped from the photo shoot with Keith and send them in, what was so hard about that?

Well, it might have been the fact that pidge days earlier has told him that his photos seemed almost better than Shiro's. So, if he was going to simply send in the best photos, would that include his?

But Shiro did say send the marked ones, and Lance's surely weren't the marked ones, that much he knew. But he was torn. This could be his time to shine, but it could also be be the biggest mistake he had ever made.

With a large moan followed by a sigh, he gripped his hair tightly, pulling at it to try and create some sort of clarity. When that failed, he simply closed his eyes.

"You okay, dude?" Hunk asked from his bed where he was flipping through some magazine he had picked up the other day.

"No - yes - I don't know…" Lance said, indecisively.

"What is plaguing your thoughts, brochacho?" Hunk spike as he sat up, placing his magazine aside.

"I don't know. Shiro asked me to send the spread to the department for him, but, like, do I switch out some photos for my own and risk everything for him to finally see that I'm not a stick in the mud? Or do I send it as is, just like he asked me to do?

"Wow," Hunk spoke in a slow tone. His brows were skirting his hairline as he also thought it through. He knew what Lance _should_ do, opposed to the other, but he let it hang in the air. "Well, what feels right?"

"Not messing up Shiro's shoot…?" Lance said, more of a question. He sighed and dropped his head on the crowded area beside his laptop on his desk that was littered with pencil etchings. The noise sounded almost painful.

"Then send in what he gave you," Hunk offered simply, trying to give the best advise in a field that he had no idea about.

"But what if the photos aren't good enough and Shiro gets yelled at? Called out by the media? I don't know what I would do if Shiro ever got ridiculed. Like, Pidge is amazing and managed to make these photos seem flawless. But what if it's not enough?"

"Then send in yours."

"Hunk!" Lance exclaimed, listing his head to meet Hunk's eye.

"What?" Hunk said back, almost unsure of what Lance wanted him to say.

"That's not helping!"

"Shiro's a big boy, I think he can manage, and besides, I'm not sure how I can help you," he told him honestly. Shrugging his shoulders in response.

Another exasperated moan left Lance's lips as he turned back to his scream. With one fowl swoop, he hit _send_ , sending the spread of all Shiro's photos to the inbox of the man in charge.

"Well, it's done now…" Lance mumbled as he rested his head down on the table, looking up at the bright scream as it stayed in the page telling Lance it had been delivered.

….

Lance's boss, the man he was pretty sure running a drug ring from the back, had asked him to wash the windows. Now, Lance knew he paid a man to come by every so often to do that job, so Lance wasn't so sure why he was holding a bottle of a yellowish liquid inside of an old windex bottle that had red sharpie crossing out the brand.

With a shrug and a paper towel in hand, he let out a huff and started to wipe them down. He would come across a spot that wouldn't come clean, so he would ignore it and try to come back to it later after dousing the entire thing in the liquid that surprisingly didn't smell like lemons or citrus.

It was an hour before he gave up, throwing his wet and soiled paper towels into the garbage, muttering under his breath the entire time.

It was days like this when Lance wished Shiro would yell at him. He wished Shiro would walk through that door and tell him he needed someone to hold up a lighting board at exactly sixty-eight degree angle for two hours. Anything was better than this job.

There had been no more than two customers since he had clocked in, so when the doorbell sounded to indicated a customer, Lance was more than willing to rush to the cash to take the order.

The first thing he noticed was her long, blonde hair, nicely tied up into two pigtails, a braid wrapped around the back, crowning it. Her smile was wide and innocent and right away Lance thought she was cute. Not his type - definitely gay, but cute.

"How may I help you?" he asked, mustering up as much fake energy he could.

"Whatever's hot and full of sugar. I don't want to fall asleep," she chippered, reaching for her wallet in her bag, the sound of tiny keychains rattling.

"Alright, one _Satan's Asshole_ it is," Lance muttered to himself, realizing what he had actually said when the girl started to laugh. "Oh shit - ah shit! - I mean fuck - damn it… I'm sorry"

"Don't worry about it. You seem just as tired as I am," she reassured him.

"God, I wish that was a good excuse," he mumbled, slowly making his way over to the coffee machine.

"At least your getting paid…?" she tried to cheer him up, but Lance only lifted the sides on his lips, nodding his head.

"At least I'm getting paid."

After a moment of listening to the espresso machine scream, Lance slid over the coffee cup over to the blonde girl who happily took it.

"Should I be worried?" She asked, now, for the first time, wondering if she should drink something called _Satan's Asshole._

"Try it."

With one foul swoop, she took the cup and sipped it back, bringing the cup away from her mouth as fast as it came.

"This is horrible," she exclaimed, only moments later taking another sip, "why do I keep drinking it?"

"It's _Satan's Asshole,_ he drags everyone in."

"Damn. As long as it works, right?"

"As long as it works."

She agreed with a smile. "Romelle."

"Lance," he spoke, underlining his name tag that looked as if a five year old had done it.

"Good to know. I'll be back for another _Asshole_ if it really works. Have a good night!" Romelle waved as she left, the sound of the bell ringing as she left, matching the pitch of her laugh. Lance smiled.

 _Yup,_ he thought, _definitely gay._

… _._

"Hewwo?" Lance answered his phone, waiting for the grunt from the other side, which it did.

" _Really, Lance?"_ spoke Shiro, the sound of air brushed the receiver causing Lance to smirk.

"You know I had to do it," he said, tossing his dorm keys on to his bed, kicking off his shoes. "What's up? You don't usually call me at this hour, you lonely and need a friend?"

There was silence.

" _Lance, dont push it. Any ways, you free tonight?"_

"Just got off of work, why? What'up?" he asked, shoving his hand into Hunk's bag of marshmallows that he was working on. Hunk pulled the bag away from him and told him to get his own. Lance only swatted his hand.

" _I got a last minute request in from Keith-"_

"Oh god, not him again," Lance groaned.

" _What's wrong with him?"_ Shiro asked, his question almost curious in manor.

"What isn't," Lance started, jumping on to his bed which yelled in protest to the weight. "He's rude, ignorant, ungrateful, and down right insufferable."

" _That's quite a list,_ " Shiro coaxed him on, leaning into his words. " _But you still have to work with him."_

"Guess I'll die," mumbled Lance, sighing as he stared at the ceiling.

" _Get up, Lance. Meet me at the office and I'll buy Chinese."_

"Only if it's from Wan's."

" _I wouldn't order from anywhere else."_

… _._

Late night at the office with Shiro was everything Lance had wanted, until his first time over.

A late night with a man like Shiro seemed like it could only go one way, but when Lance got his internship, late nights with Shiro went anywhere but sexy.

The man showed up in a _420 blaze it_ T-shirt, ripped pajama pants, and twenty bobby pins holding his longer hair back. His glasses looked like Lance's grandpa's, and every time he needed to read something, he would look over them and squint.

Takashi Shirogane was a disaster.

"Lance, we have five days to plan, book, and execute a shoot for an exclusive sponsor ad campaign that might not even go public, and then turn around on top of if get it edited, sorted, and sent off to head office over at Gucci, do you understand the pressure I'm under?"

Lance understood. He understood well, but staring at the clock, he wished he had a hot cup of _Satan's Asshole_ in his hands because the only words that traveled from his brain to his lips were, "it's Gucci, so you know it's good." The look on Shiro's face was almost worth it when his eyes glossed over.

"Really?"

"I'm sorry, Shiro, but I had my calc exam today so Hunk was up all night with me last night and before that, I won't make up an excuse, I just made bad choices."

Shiro sighed as he rubbed his eyes.

"So, tell me again, what are we looking for?"

"Well," Shiro started, grabbing a few blown photos and heading over to where Lance had created his own fort of old boxes, "they are releasing a new line of men's wear-"

"Gucci."

"Yes, Gucci, and Keith is one of the potential models," Shiro explained.

"I can't believe this might not even pass," Lance said as he blinked slowly, staring at a shirtless photo of Keith. The man had a jacket on, but it left little to Lance's imagination. "What do they even like in him?"

Lance reached for his fork, waving it around as Shiro chuckled lowly from the other table.

"He's talented, Lance, and he's quite a model."

Lance huffed as he shoved a piece of broccoli into his mouth, looking anywhere but at the multitude of photos that were Keith Kogane.

"Didn't you used to be a fan of his," Shiro asked, reaching for his drink, "I recall you liking him a lot and begging to come to the shoot."

" _Used to._ And don't remind me. Everything was fine until he opened his mouth and spoke." Lance paused. "Are you sure we're looking at the right place for this?" Lance pondered, lifting up some of Keith's past shoots for companies.

"What are you getting at?"

"Well, everything you have pulled is from old shoots from other brand deals, right?" Shiro nodded his head as he crossed his arms, raising a brow at Lance. "So, we shouldn't be looking at what he has done, we should be focusing on what he hasn't. That's what they're after? Something the world has never see?"

"Actually," Shiro started, his brows furrowed as he raised a still and brought it closer to his eyes, "you might be onto something here."

"They want him for not only what he has to offer, but what you bring to the table. 'Cause when someone hires Keith, they also are hiring you."

"Lance, I own you something fancier than Chinese food next time we stay late," Shiro added as he started to hop around the desk, grabbing stills and placing them in some sort of order.

"What you thinkin'?" Lance asked, leaning over Shiro's shoulder to see what he was doing.

"Lance, hand me that - that - ah shit, that fucking thing," Shiro pointed and snapped his fingers, trying to remember what it was called. His brain was working overtime, trying to organize all his thoughts at once.

Lance went over to the area Shiro was pointing and found a catalogue and brought it over, thinking this was what Shiro was thinking.

"Here," Lance spoke softly as he handed it over, Shiro thanking him as he quickly skimmed through it.

As Shiro's mind raced, Lance sat back and picked up his takeout, shoving a bundle of noodles into his mouth, the faint sound of a radio, almost on the right station played from somewhere in the back of the room.

Lance reached over a grabbed a still. It was the one with Keith only wearing a jacket. He used the bottom of his shirt to wipe away the extra sauce from his mouth, never breaking contact with the image.

It was a good photo, but obviously from Keith's earlier days. He was younger and his hair was shorter.

Lance had been good at picking up on techniques and what to look for in a model since he had been shadowing Shiro. There were different levels of comfort most models felt, but this one felt insecure. There was a pain in Keith's eye, something that Lance had assumed no one had seen at the time.

He set the still down and picked up another one, shoving more noodles into his mouth. Lance smirked. He knew when this one was taken, also. It was the fresh shoulder tattoo of a tiny flame. Lance knew why Keith had gotten it, it was for his father, but, of course, he would never admit it out loud.

Lance had been a fan for years, it was still hard for him to believe that he was here, sitting in Takashi Shirogane's office, looking at never-used stills of photo shoots from Keith's early days. At this point, Keith had almost an entire sleeve of tattoos, but seeing the smooth, pale skin brough Lance back to the first time he had listened to his music.

He was a freshman in high school, the year was about to begin when his sister had dragged him to an old record store. It was her last few days back before she left again for school, but she loved hanging with her little brother.

The record store smelled as if the owner had been burning incense that been in storage, the dust mixing into the aroma.

Every shelf was lined with records and CDs, old cassette tapes filled wrinkled boxes under the tables. Posters were rolled up and hanging on the wall as soft rock music bounced from wall to wall. The store was dark, but the artificial lighting gave it a warm glow.

"If you need me," Veronica said, already walking away, "I'll be in the metal isle."

Lance simply rose his hand to give her some sort of acknowledgement, but both knew the other wasn't paying attention.

He skimmed the rows, only really paying attention to the bands he knew, pretending to be cool and know the rest. Lance walked around, eyeing up the store his sister seemed to know well.

She was always bringing home new music, her room was alive with sounds from all over. Their mom had yelled at her more than a few times for their tone and choice of language, but she would turn it down only to turn it back up again.

Lance loves hanging in her room, he was the baby, so he could get away with it easier than Marco or Rachel. But he liked his time with his sister.

He had never gotten his own, always borrowing it from his sister.

As he wondered, he ran into a wall of posters, some announcing old shows, some more recent. He dragged his hand along the papers, many of them ripped off and only the edges and discarded staples left to represent what they were.

"You into newer music?" a man with a rat tail asked. His ear was full of metal, his lips chapped and pierced.

"I guess?" Lance answered back, unsure of what to say.

The man nodded and went away. Lance turned back to the wall only for the man to return with a CD.

"Not so much local talent, but he is new. Only been on the seen for almost a year. If you're into that stuff, you should check him out," the man suggested, pointing to the poster Lance had been staring at. He looked up at the poster and then down at the CD in hand.

"Thanks," Lance muttered as he examined it. Shrugging, he met up with his sister.

"Find anything?" she asked, pulling a CD out to exam it, only to put it back with a disgruntled sigh.

"Sort of?" Lance replied, not sure of how to respond.

"Great," she said as Veronica collected her stack and headed over to the cash. Lance followed but kept his eye on the case. It was obviously low quality, like the label wasn't sure on the guy, by the cover art was simple: A galaxy of red stars, the title, " _Oblivion"_ slapped on the middle with the name _Six Steps to Failure._

Veronica looked over at Lance who stood too awkward for his body, turning the CD over in his hands.

"Put it up, I'm payin'." She motioned with her chin and Lance obliged gingerly.

"Goin' with it, kid?" Rat tail asked, a sly smirk playfully pulling at his lip as he scanned each of Veronica's purchases.

"Might as well," he joked, hoping to not come off so awkward, but that was it for the conversation until he handed his sister the bag.

"Later, Vee."

"See yeah, Dave," she replied, lifting only a hand as she walked away.

When they left, Veronica grabbed the CD from the bag and handed it over to Lance.

"Nice pick, I heard they're good," she commented.

"I hope so."

…

That night, after his mother had cried her tears for her children leaving for school and no longer at home, Lance ran up to his room, almost too eager to listen.

He has always stolen his sister's music when she left, but now he had his own.

Like always, he crept into Veronica's old room, the bed only half made, but he was sure that his mom would fix that soon, and snatched her stereo, pulling the cords as they dragged behind him.

He cleared off his table and set it on, disregarding the man papers that now called the floor home. With a quick swoop, he pulled his lamp cord out of the wall and replaced it with the machine's cord.

When it booted up, Lance gave himself a small, pleased smile, looking around his disaster of a room for the CD. Once spotted, he shoved it in with persistence and pressed play, launching himself on to his bed as the first track booted up.

And that night, as the voice of then young Keith Kogane filled the room, Lance fell asleep, the album becoming the soundtrack to his dreams.

…..

"Lance?" Shiro called out, raising a brow as Lance snapped back to reality.

"Yeah?"

"You okay?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You're just staring really hard at that still," Shiro pointed out, facing Lance who quickly tried to play it off.

"Umm, yeah - no, I was just - just studying the technique, balance of light and colour," Lance stammered, trying to quickly come up with an excuse.

"You sure?"

"Yup."

"'Cause you were really staring."

"That's - that's just-"

"And really smiling."

"Nope. Your just making things up now."

"I know what I saw," Shiro continued to tease.

"You know what Shiro?"

"What?"

"You can - you know what you can do? You can just," Lance reached for a word but came up empty. "You can just no."

"I can just no?" he clarified.

"Yeah, just… no"

"Nice word choice."

"You wanted something?" Lance changed the subject.

With a light chuckle, Shiro motioned for Lance to come over and take a look at his planning.

"Yes," Shiro said, "take a look at a base for the spread and tell me what you think."

Lance grabbed a few of the stills that Shiro had set aside and examined them to spot the similarities between them. Each still had a more darker feel to them, thrown away was the images of blank and white space.

"Are you thinking of doing a more darker shoot?" Lance asked, picking up another still, his eyes lingering.

"I want something a little more - almost personal feeling, does that make sense?" Shiro asked, passing another small clump over to Lance who simply nodded as he grabbed the next few from him.

"Do you have a setting picked out yet?"

Shiro yawned and leaned back on the edge of the desk, crossing his arms and closing his eyes for a moment before opening them, staring at a blank spot on the wall. "Yeah, I was thinking of setting up the studio with something, but I haven't gotten that far yet."

Lance thought for a moment before setting the stills down.

"What if - and just hear me out - we do it in his house - or someone else's," Lance proposed, holding hi hands up in defence when Shiro opened his mouth to protest. "Just think about it: We can get a darker, yet more natural feel and we won't have to organize all that set design in such a short amount of time? We can do a trial run and you can decide if you like it or not,"

Shiro was about to fight back, but Lance had a point. They would be able to get the atmosphere needed for the ad and not have to worry about the planning and cost that would come with setting up the entire studio. He wouldn't have to rush to find sponsors and it would be much more do-able. It might just work.

"Actually, that's not such a bad idea," Shiro thought out loud, a small smile sneaking onto his lips as he thought it through. Mentally, he was placing the entire shoot in his mind. Lance ran over to grab him a pen so he could jot down his thoughts before he forgot them, and with a cheeky smile, Lance shoved the last bit of Chinese into his mouth.

 _ **...**_

 _ **I really have forgotten how i write and edit these, so heres to me getting my mojo back!**_

 _ **hope you enjoyed it, I have the rest plotted, but I do love to hear your predictions and thoughts, so hit me up and let me know!**_

 ** _Follow, Favourite, and Review!_**

 ** _Kitty out!_**


	5. Chapter 5

**_Back at it again with that solid update! I'm playing it slow with smaller chapters so I can really stretch this out the way I have planned hope y'all enjoy this one!_**

...

"Hey, Hunk?" Lance called out to his roommate who sat on his bed, skimming through the pages of a textbook.

"What?" he called back, half paying attention.

"What's your thoughts on fall?"

Hunk put his book down and just stared at his friend. Was he serious?

"Lance, are you really asking me about the weather?"

"I'm asking you about a season, actually."

"And why is that?" Hunk sighed, setting the textbook aside, laying it over his chest as he gave his roommate a blank look.

"It's cold out, but not too cold, and the leaves look really pretty," Lance started.

"And where is this going?"

"I don't know, I just need to get my mind on something else other than the internship and school," Lance told him, shrugging his shoulders as he huffed out a deep breath.

"I thought you liked your internship?" Hunk threw his legs over the side of his bed and cocked a brow in Lance's direction.

"I do, it's just…" Lance's voice trailed off as he studied the room. Their dorm was small, but not too small that they got in each other's way. They didn't have a bathroom in their suit, but it was just down the hall and on the other side was the hall kitchen where Hunk spent most of his days cooking in mass quantity for the hall. Not many of the students could cook, let alone anything of quality.

"Why? What's up?"

"Shiro's got us on another mass order with a whole ass photo shoot within a week, and it might not even make it into the final print," ranted Lance, his brows scrunched up.

"Oof, what company?"

"Gucci," Lance muttered.

"Damn!" Hunk exclaimed, pretending to fan himself off for dramatic effect.

"Yeah, I know, so now I have to go over to his house-"

"Wait, whose house?" Hunk interrupted him.

Lance bit his cheek. "Keith Kogane."

"Damn! Times two!" Hunk swooned, but paused for a moment. "Wait, shouldn't you be ecstatic to not only be hanging out with him, but going over to his house for a whole ass shoot for Gucci?"

"Why? He's annoying and I don't like him one bit," Lance said, huffing as he flung himself onto his back on his bed.

"But aren't you, like, lowkey in love with him and his music?"

"...No, well, I used to be, but not after I met him. You know what they say, 'never meet your heroes.'"

"Aww," Hunk poked at him, "he was your hero?"

Hunk instantly got a pillow to the face for that one, but he simply tossed it back at his roommate who was doing a bad job covering his face in embarrassment.

"Shut up."

….

"Why is it so cold out?" Keith asked, staring out the window as a leaf fell, sticking to the windowsill as the sound of guitars being tuned echoed behind him.

"'Cause it's almost winter?" Acxa, a girl with electric blue hair responded halfheartedly, plugging in her guitar to an amp.

"I don't like winter," he muttered, tapping his pencil in a rhythmic pattern.

"That's 'cause you're from Arizona," Shey, a heavy set drummer, said, throwing a crumpled up piece of paper at Keith, who chuckled as he swatted it away.

"Still, everything feels drier in the winter."

"Yeah, I'm not so much a fan myself," Shay replied, gaining a nod from Acxa in agreement.

"When's that loser, Gryffin, getting here?" Acxa huffed, looking at the clocked as she strummed a few cords to warm up.

"Ignore him," Keith yawned, grabbing his own guitar, "he can quit for all I care."

"Don't say that," Shay spoke, her kind voice soothing the high strung band.

"He barely does anything anymore," Keith added, fingering some rifts. "Fuck." He went over where he messed up until he was happy at the sound and speed.

"Hey, Keith," Acxa called out, reaching for her water bottle, "you still have that Gucci shoot?"

With a heavy sigh, Keith nodded. "Don't remind me, I hate it."

"Why don't you tell Zarkon - god, can he sound any more like an anime villain? - that you just don't want to?" Acxa asked, tossing Keith his bottle as he did mini warm ups.

"If I did that, he wouldn't even listen, so what's the point?" Keith sighed, but as he breathed out, it got louder until he was full on screaming. The other two girl's just laughed as he deflated, Keith soon joining them.

"Ooo, look what I found," Shey said as she tossed Keith her phone.

"Yet again," he muttered.

Acxa came over and laughed, picking up the phone happily from him.

"Oh, Onion, at it once again," Acxa huffed, a small smirk.

"This one is Buzzfeed," Keith pointed out.

"Even better," she joked. She cleared her voice and everyone turned to her and watched. "' _Is_ Six Steps to Failair _lead singer, Keith Kogane, bumping boots with fellow band member and good friend, Acxa?'"_

"Get it!" Shay screamed sarcastically, but Keith just rolled his eyes.

"' _The pair have been seen outside of band rehearsals seeming quite close, and on some occasions intimate. The pair has been rumored to be dating many times before, but with each denile, a new piece evidence comes just as fast.'"_

"Eww," Keith muttered with a soft chuckle as he turned his attention back to his guitar.

"Hey, Buzzfeed? I'm a lesbian!" Acxa screamed at Shay's phone before tossing it back to her, to which she received a whole hearted laugh from the drummer.

"These keep getting wilder the longer it goes on," Shay said, shaking her head as she put her phone away. "Anyways, want to get started without James?"

"Yeah," Keith mumbled, picking up his guitar and heading over to the group.

…..

"Shiro?"

Nothing.

"Shiwo!"

Nothing.

"I know you can hear me, Shiro," Lance said, putting his phone to his other ear.

" _I'm choosing to ignore you right now,"_ he replied, his voice low as he thought to himself, silently.

"Why?" Lance whined, "you're the one that called me."

" _Because, when I call you about work and you start talking like a walking meme, I tend to ignore you."_

"Fine, I won't call you ' _Shiwo_ ' anymore, you happy?"

" _Only a little. Anyways,"_ Shiro spoke, taking a deep breath in as he collected some papers on other end, " _I was pitching some design ideas and it looks like we're going to be shooting at Keith's place."_

"Wait," Lance stopped, both in thought and action, Hunk looking over at him from his desk, "we're going over to Keith's house?"

"What?" Hunk asked, but Lance swiped his hand over in his direction. When Lance wouldn't answer him, he came up behind him and put his ear to Lance's phone to try and hear.

" _Will that be a problem?"_ Shiro asked.

"No, it shouldn't be a problem - I don't see a problem," Lance tried to say, pushing a nosy Hunk away.

"Not a problem? Hey Lance? Do you remember the last two - like, weeks?" Hunk said, following Lance as he tried to get up and away.

" _That's good. I don't want you two killing one another during this, so it better not be a problem."_

"Absolutely, Shiro, there will be no problem," Lance told him, faking the confidence as he continued to push Hunk and his prying ears away.

" _Good,"_ Shiro spoke, taking a deep breath in before following it with a yawn, " _I'll message you the details within the next few hours. See you, Lance."_

"Bye, Shiro!" Lance managed to say before he hung up, flinging his phone across the room onto his bed. He made direct eye contact with Hunk who simply looked at him and rose a brow.

"So?"

"So what?" Lance asked back, pretending like nothing was wrong.

"So what? Is that all I get?" Hunk states, following Lance the five steps over to where his bed was and watched him with his hands on his hips.

"What else do you want?"

"Lance!" Hunk exclaimed, "You're going over to Keith Kogane's, the man who I'm pretty sure was the start of your sexual awakening-"

"Hunk, you and I both know I was bi way before that. And it was Ryan Reynolds that was my bi awaking."

"Whatever, the reason doesn't really matter. You're still acting like this isn't a big deal."

Lance waved him off. "'Cause it isn't."

"Lance, you idolized him for years," Hunk pointed out.

"Then I met him, now I want to fight him."

"That's a bitch ass lie and you know it."

Lance sat quiet, knowing that no matter how hard he fought it, a little truth would always be in the words Hunk was saying.

Before he let his ears get too hot, Lance threw his pillow at him, to which he huffed off at.

Both men sat in silence, neither of them making a sound that would indicated that they were even in the room until Hunk spoke up.

"Just tell me everything when you get home."

Lance smirked.

"Who else would I tell?"

…..

It wasn't Shiro that emailed him, it was Matt. Lance guessed it was just a forward as Shiro was probably too busy or lazy to do it himself. He didn't care.

"Imma go bug Pidgeon," Lance called out before he left the room.

"Noice," Hunk spoke half heartedly, eyes lidded as he was deep into his book. "Also, just know that tonight I'm making burgers for the hall."

"Make sure you put me down for no cheese. It dries out the burger."

"Already notes."

"Dude," Lance said, stopping half out the door, "I actually love you."

Hunk simply gave him a thumbs up before turning his page, Lance leaving with a soft chuckle fighting its way out.

He skirted across the parking lot to the dorm building beside Lance's, waving his key card to get in.

Normally his card wouldn't work for the female dorm building, but a computer glitch in the system cause for both cards to work for either building; a bug neither residences wanted to report.

And with this, Lance shot to the elevator, surrounded by a bunch of girls that either eyed him or scowled as he quickly pushed the fifth floor button, praying the door would close faster than he could press the command button.

With a ding, he exited the elevator, thankfully praying that no one was out. Pidge's dorm was five down on the right, and quite fast to get to.

"Let me in," Lance called.

There a was a moment of silence until Pidge opened the door, their hair a mess and their glasses crooked.

"What?" they asked, their voice tired and eyes dark.

"You should turn on some lights," Lance said, pointing to the only light source coming from their computer screen.

"Get to the point," they huffed.

Lance chuckled.

"Did you forget what day it is?"

Pidge took a moment before looking behind them, hoping the answer would be there. When it wasn't they looked back at Lance who stood in the doorway, wiggling their brows.

"Oh shit, it's Friday!" Pidge called out. "Get your ass in here and turn it on!"

Lance smirked as he slid past Pidge who fumbled around their floor, trying to find a pair of pants before grabbing a half opened bag of Doritos, tossing it to Lance who found himself a nice set up on their bed.

"Just in time, too," Lance added as he shoved a chip into his mouth, passing the bag to Pidge.

The two of them had a tradition. It started one evening when Lance had walked in on Pidge marathoning the hit reality TV show, _My Life as an Emperor._ When Lance admitted he watched the show too, they made an agreement - a truce - to watch the new episode every Friday.

It was one of Pidge's darkest secrets, but it's how they maintained their weird friendship.

"Hunk's making burgers for the floor today," Lance said, shoving a chip into his mouth. "You should come over and steal one."

"If Hunk's making them, I might."

The man on TV had thrown a chair and the camera zoomed in on his son's face, the dead expression in his eyes gaining a laugh from the two on the bed.

"Hey, you helping Shiro out with that new rush shoot?" Pidge asked, grabbing the bag from Lance.

"Yeah, just got the info from your brother. Not sure how I feel about it."

"About what?" Pidge raises a brow.

"I don't know, being in his house. I was hoping Shiro would use, like, his own house or something, but now I have to be at his place for hours."

"You sure like to complain," Pidge added, choking a chip in their mouth.

"Not usually."

"When it's about Keith, you do."

Lance shoved them, to which Pidge only laughed. The conversation ended there as the commercials came to an end.

…

Lance huffed as he stared out the window. The city roared to life as the sun began to set, all walks of life past him as they drove past.

Lance liked to make up stories for these people he saw. What got them there, where they were going. Everyone had a story and Lance loved to find out what is was. Even if it was to just to pass the time.

He saw a homeless man pushing a shopping cart, his coat was worn and his beard was matted. In the brief moment Lance saw him, he believed this man was a war vet. Forgotten after he had gotten back from the front lines, his family all gone and friends long forgotten.

His name began with a G. Gavin? Gerald? Geoffrey? It was an old name, something that wasn't as common nowadays.

Gregory.

His name was Gregory and he served his country well. But when the PTSD kicked him, they kicked him out. This was the start of his down fall.

Lance spotted a group of girls walking, all laughing.

He believed they were on their way to a local band that was playing nearby. In this story, the girl with the brown hair - Jessica? - would meet the lead singer when she forget her jacket at the end of the show, her friends waiting outside for her.

They would talk for a moment before - kristina - the blonde haired friend that was hanging off of a few of their arms - would come in asking where her friend was.

She would smile and bug her friend about it, asking if she had gotten his number, but would look the other way when Jess would blush about getting it. She liked Jess, but Jess would never know.

Lance liked making up the lives of the people on the street. It was almost like photography. He could see these people and make his own impressions of them to himself without needed the world to agree.

If he believed a homeless man did great things, who was to stop him and say otherwise? Himself? It was a moment of almost clarity as the busying world passed him by. He wasn't stuck by reality, because for just once, his reality was all.

"Once we get there," Shiro said, pulling Lance back into the reality he had no control over, "I want you to unload the equipment while I buzz up."

"Yup," Lance sighed, pulling his own thoughts back to the window. Shiro had continued to explain their plan, the usual setup plan they had gone through a million times already, but it all ended up as white noise as Lance's thoughts wandered once more.

If he had to deal with Keith, why couldn't he forget who he was, a pretend he was the version in Lance's mind?

Who was Keith to Lance? He was a singer. And a guitarist. He was a model that only let Shiro shoot him.

But why? Why Shiro?

Lance thought back to the late night at Shiro's office, going through the stills. Maybe Keith didn't like the camera. Or didn't like the way he looked.

Keith covered himself in tattoos, maybe it was to hide himself?

 _Alright, good,_ Lance thought, _I can work with this._

In Lance's mind, Keith was shy, not distant. He didn't know how to deal with the spotlight so he tried to hide from it. He was truly sweet, but was bad with words.

In Lance's mind, in his reality, Keith laughed a lot. He smiled so genuinely that it made the world's heart melt, but not one got to see that side of him.

Maybe-

The car came to a stop and Shiro turned off the engine, motioning for Lance to get out and start unpacking the car.

With a huff, Lance unbuckled his seatbelt and got out, opening the back seat door and started to unload th equipment.

What would Keith's apartment look like? Lance glanced up at the building, letting every option of the lay out come to mind.

Open concept? How many bedrooms did it have? Bathrooms?

As Lance put down the final bag, he realized how much he had actually thought about it. If three years ago you would have asked him what he thought Keith's private life looked like, he would have gone on and on about the singer. But here he was, staring up at the building the looked nice on the outside but was nowhere near where he thought it would be, and nothing could have prepared him for what was behind those walls.

"Grab the bags, Lance," Shiro called out as he headed back to the car to grab his camera, leaving most of the heavy lifting to Lance.

"I'm trying," he muttered as he repositioned everything, taking a deep breath in as he made one more step closer to Keith's apartment.

…

It was an open concept. And quite a nice one at that. The sun was starting to set when Keith opened the door, wearing a baggy sweater with something scribbled in what Lance could only recognize as Japanese from his weeb days

"Shiro," Keith announced, cheerfully, his smile starting to fall when he noticed Lance behind him.

"Sorry we are late, traffic was a bitch," Shiro apologized as he entered, obviously having been in his apartment before.

Had he been over often? How long ago was it? Was it for a photo shoot or were they just hanging out?

For some reason Lance's mind began to wander as he looked around. Keith didn't have much in his apartment, so while it was a smaller place, it felt bigger.

"Lance?" Shiro called out, raising a brow as Lance still stood in the doorway.

"Huh?" Lance mumbled, turning away in embarrassment when he realized he had just stopped and did nothing else. "Sorry."

Lance took off his shoes, kicking the into the corner which earn him a glance from Keith who looked over his shoulders at the noise. His arms were crossed and Lance felt his ears warm up.

He looked around and set the equipment onto the island in the kitchen which was right to his left upon entering.

Shiro was fiddling around with his camera on the arm of the couch as Keith wondered in and out of rooms like a lost puppy, probably unable to figure out what he was supposed to do.

"Lance," Shiro called out to him, "can you set up reflector over there?"

Lance followed Shiro's point me the nodded, opening up the right bag.

"Do you have any ideas yet?" Keith had asked, making his way over to Shiro.

The two started talking about the plan while Lance unloaded. He knew they wouldn't need half of this, but Shiro likes to try everything.

Keith's apartment was warm. Not just in temperature, but the lighting was warm. Very few lights had been turned on, and those that were were a few lamps here and there, plus the golden hour sunset with the city scape flooding in gave it a cozy feel.

The room felt orange. Like a deep orange that echoes warmth. This was not what Lance had pictured when he imagined Keith back in high school writing his music.

Lance remembered Keith's first tattoo: tiny flames. He smiled.

 _I guess he really embodies warmth,_ he thought to himself as he finished the last bit of set up.

"I'm just going to set the lighting and angles, can you stand over there?" Shiro asked, motioning with his chin to where he wanted Keith to stand.

"What should I do with my hands?" he asked. Lance snorted, but he did his best to play it off with a cough when Keith glared over his way. So much for the dignified model.

"I don't care, we aren't starting yet."

Keith nodded and put his hands in his pocket, looking down at the ground and kicking his foot. Lance stood off to the side, simply observing.

When Keith looked up and out the window, the golden light hitting his face, Lance was taken back. He knew it was just the lighting and atmosphere, but in that moment, he didn't care that Keith was an ass with a huge mouth, he was breathtaking.

Lance wished he had his camera, but he was smart enough not to bring it. Shiro would kill him if he got caught taking photos during his shoot.

Lance made mental note on how Keith's jawline was etched in gold, creating a perfect sight line to his neck, leading down to his collarbone hidden under his sweater.

Lance quickly looked away, trying to shake the thought, but when he closed his eyes, he still saw it. Keith's outline, illuminated by the setting sun and city lights was burned into his mind, it slowly becoming an echo the longer it went on.

"Alright," Shiro called out as he went through the photos, dropping his camera from his eye, "we're gonna get started."

Keith gave him a thumbs up as he slid off his sweater, a red flannel and basic T-shirt revealed themselves underneath.

"I have a few things they wanted to cover for the previews, and then if it passes we'll get the proper shots." Another thumbs up came from Keith as he ruffled his hair, his tattoos exposed by his rolled up flannel.

Time ticked by faster than Lance thought it would. Shiro had Keith walk around to get different angles and lighting, calling on him to switch the equipment every once in a while. An hour had managed to sneak past him before Shiro called out, "alright, now take it off."

Lance was met with his own confusion and a hard look from Keith. When Shiro turned back from grabbing a different lance adjustment, he simply cocked an eye.

"What's wrong?" he asked plainly.

"Not with him here," Keith grumbled, pouting almost like a child.

"I don't think Lance cares what your underwear looks like," Shiro added, taking a moment before he looked over at Lance whose own brows were raised in surprise. "Right?"

"Absolutely not, do not care what so ever," Lance began to ramble, earning a heavy sigh from Shiro.

"You weren't listening in the car, were you?"

"It was bold enough of you to even assume I was," Lance tried to find a way out, but another heavy breath of air left Shiro's lips.

"What's done is done. Anyways, it'll be a few snaps and then you can put your clothes back on," Shiro tried to reassure Keith, turning to face away from Lance who still didn't know what was happening completely.

"Fine," Keith muttered, obviously against Lance being in the room - or his apartment, for this part of the shoot - or any of it.

And with stiff fingers, Keith undid his belt like nothing was unusual about it. Had Keith done this before for shoots?

Lance tried to shake his mind clear, but when he came back to, Keith was already in his underwear, sitting on the arm of his couch.

Things had jumped way too fast for Lance and he could feel his ears warming up - and quickly.

 _Just get this shoot over with and you never have to deal with this again,_ he thought to himself as he made his way over to Shiro's side once again.

And in that instant, Keith had gone back into model mode, completely unrecognizable from the shy man just moments before. Yet, Lance could still tell. While Keith hid it in his posture and face, his eyes still seemed uncomfortable. It was the same look he saw in the shirtless still from only nights before.

The orange glow still illuminating the room, the amber rays deeper and stronger than before. It cascaded from the sky behind, flooding the room with a desire.

It gave a halo to Keith's hair, the tips catching fire as he raised his chin, only the flashing of the camera reminded Lance that he was still human.

But that fear in his eyes, Lance couldn't shake it. Keith had done so many shoots, why was it there?

...

 _ **ah Yee! I'm getting real happy at the pace now! I have the next chapter already started and hope I can work on it again soon! So till then, I really hope you enjoyed it!**_

 _ **please let me know your thoughts! It helps me mould the story better!**_

 _ **follow, favourite, and review!**_

 _ **kitty out!**_


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